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EU top diplomat: Deal with Iran only way to avoid nuclear Tehran

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: The Wall Street Journal
6 Feb 2023 19:41
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Borrell says he sees no alternative to the 2015 nuclear deal.

EU top diplomat Josep Borrell on October 3, 2022. (AFP)

The European Union’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, considers that the nuclear agreement is the only way to "avoid Iran becoming nuclear."

Borrell, who is leading the negotiates with Tehran on behalf of the involved western countries, told The Wall Street Journal during a train trip from Kiev back to the EU that people opposing his efforts to revive the deal probably "don’t value enough” the dangers of Iran becoming a nuclear country.

“As far as I know, there is not an alternative to this deal to try to avoid Iran becoming nuclear,” he said.

The statements of the EU's top diplomat come after Washington, on several occasions, announced that the nuclear deal is not on its agenda, which was amplified when Biden said in a video that went viral on social media last year that he considers the JCPOA is dead.

Last Month, Borell warned that in case the EU designated the IRGC as a "terrorist" organization, this would lead to the collapse of nuclear talks.

"The JCPOA is not dead but it is completely stalled," Borrell told the Financial Times then.

"If the Iranian regime is so bad . . . we have to try to avoid this kind of regime having a nuclear bomb", adding, "And I do not know another way of doing that than making the JCPOA work."

"You can imagine that it would be increasingly blocked if [the terrorist designation] was done by other states . . . it would make things certainly more difficult."

Borell then confirmed that JCPOA signatories Germany and France, in addition to other EU member states, support designating Iran's Revolution Guard Corps by the European Union.

Despite Borell's position, many officials in the US, even those who previously supported the 2015 deal, have become more skeptical about the diplomatic approach to the issue.

As some previous restrictions on Iran are expiring with more significant ones to follow between 2025 to 2030, including Iran's Uranian production and enrichment, opponents of the deal claim that after the restrictions are lifted, Tehran will eventually develop nuclear weapons despite Tehran numerously stressing that it only aims for a peaceful nuclear program.

Following the US unilateral withdrawal from the JCPOA during the Trump administration, several attempts to revive the deal have been made, most notably last spring with reports suggesting that a deal was within reach, however, currently the chances are getting slimmer by the day, especially after the West's increasing hostility toward the Islamic Republic.

Commenting on US claims that Iran intends to sell Russia hundreds of missiles, Borell warned that this would be "a step too far," but he thinks that Iran knows that.

“I have to say that every time I talk with the Iranians, they insist that they will not do it,” Borrell added on the claims of selling missiles to Moscow.

“But then I have to advise them, if you do that, everything will be much more difficult, including the JCPOA,” he said, noting that if Iran took such action, the US and EU "would be much less" motivated to revive the agreement.

Borell expressed to the news site that he considers neither Tehran nor Biden's administration to be responsible for the current state of the nuclear deal.

When asked who was to blame for the near-collapse of the deal, EU's top diplomat said one word, "Trump".